Icy Past
by Rich and Chewy
Summary: If you think rating should go up, tell me. Childhood memories can plague you forever. Ash has to confront his fears when one of his friends is faced with the same fate. AAML, maybe just friendship. R&R!


A/N: Hi!!! Just another AAML from yours truly! Please R&R! It would mean so much to me!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. My name is not Satoshi Tajiri and believe me I am not imaginative enough to come up with 386 Pokemon and probably more!  
  
* * *  
  
I can't believe I'm here. No, anywhere but here. I can't believe Misty dragged me into his. We could have just gone bowling, it's so much safer. But no, no, no, no, always no. We just had to go ice skating!  
  
"I just know I'm going to wind up at the hospital!" I said angrily.  
  
"Oh Ash, will you stop your complaining! You're not going to end up at the hospital, okay!?" Misty growled menacingly at me.  
  
Guess she knows what it's like to be me now, always having to listen to her complaining. Now don't get me wrong, I love the girl... As a friend! She's my best friend! Of course I love her, as a friend, but she does complain a lot. Maybe just a bit too much.  
  
"That's what happened last time." I mumbled in reply to her comment.  
  
Yeah but last time I even thought about going ice skating, I was seven years old. Being fourteen now is bound to help. But I still don't like it. You wouldn't either if you had had your hand sliced open by someone when you fell over. Fun, mum had said, you'll have fun. I don't call getting ten stitches fun. But they did do a good job. No scar or anything.  
  
"Next please!" I heard the man at the counter say and the line move up a space, leaving Brock, Misty and myself at the head of the line. "How many?"  
  
"Three." I heard Brock reply instantly. I was about to retaliate and refuse to go in but he had already handed over the money and received the passes. I guess that was it. I was going ice skating.  
  
We passed through the gate and I saw hell. There were many little kids running around, finding their parents so they could get their ice skates, others were tying them onto their feet securely or walking towards the rink to begin the 'fun'. I followed my two friends mindlessly, glancing around at the many people.  
  
"Ash, what size skates do you need?" Misty asked me, snapping me out of my trance.  
  
"Ummm, seven and a half."  
  
"Here you go, go put them on over there." Misty motioned her hand towards an empty seat not far away. I nodded slightly and wandered over to the seat.  
  
Cursed skates, why do you haunt me? I put my left skate on and began my attempt to tighten them with the strange straps. I pushed the strap through what looked to be a sort of latch and began to pull it tighter to no avail. I tried again but still nothing. Again and again and again, but nothing worked. I never knew skates were so frustrating. Not thinking about what I was about to do I picked up my other skate and threw it across the room, receiving many startled screams.  
  
"Ash! What did you do that for!?" Brock asked me, disgust in his voice. I think I actually saw the whites of his eyes; his eyes were so wide when he was looking at me.  
  
"The damn skate wont go on!" I screamed in frustration. I looked down at the loose skate on my foot, disgust written all over my face.  
  
"Ash watch your language! *sigh* Misty will you help Ash with his skates?"  
  
"Sure." Misty said just a little too happily. She bent down next to me and began to pull at my skate straps. She made it look way to easy; she gave a little tug at them and bingo! They were tight. I growled at her angrily as she went to get my other skate from the other side of the room. When she came back she did the next skate up almost as easily as the first. I frowned at her as she stood up smiling happily at me. "There you go."  
  
* * *  
  
"Ouch!" I screamed as I fell onto my butt for the tenth time. "I just can't do it!" Not that I was actually trying to skate. I was about to give up and skate out of the rink when I heard that all-too bubbly voice. Misty was making her way over to me.  
  
"Oh come on Ash." She lifted my arm up in an attempt to get me to stand up, but I refused. "You can do it, here I'll help you." Not wanting to be rude I obliged unhappily. She helped me up and held onto my arm.  
  
We began to skate slowly around the rink. "Heel, toe, heel, toe, heel, toe." She whispered in my ear as we went.  
  
After about ten minutes of the same thing we had just about made our way back to the start of the rink for the third time, and I thought I was getting it.  
  
"I think you're getting it Ash!" Misty grinned at me and I gave a small smile back. You know, this isn't really that bad.  
  
We stopped for a slight brake at the wall. "I think I want to have a try by myself Misty." She looked a little shocked when I first said this but she looked pretty pleased with my decision as well. I gave her the thumbs up, my bad mood having lifted, and took off. I stumbled a bit at first but after a few steps I was on balance and going well. I smiled to myself remembering every bit of advice Misty had given me those last ten minutes. Heel, toe, heel, toe, heel, toe, is all I could think to myself. I was starting to gain speed now. I was right, this really isn't that bad, hell it's fun!  
  
"Misty, look! I'm skating!" I called out merrily to my friend as I passed her, I turned around as I floated past her on the ice to wave. She beamed at me and waved back. I was really happy, except, what happened next wasn't what I had been expecting. I turned back the way I was going, but it was too late to stop myself. I braced myself for the collision with the wall that I was fast coming up to and... BANG!  
  
Everything went black.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ash! Ash are you ok!?" That was Misty's voice.  
  
"Ash, wake up man!" And that was Brock.  
  
I slowly opened my eyes. All my senses came back at once. My back was absolutely freezing, I was still on the ice, and my left ankle was hurting like mad. I looked up at the two people in front of me.  
  
"Ash, are you ok?" Misty asked me, worry written all over her face.  
  
"... Yeah ..." I sat up holding my head. Sudden pain had ripped through it as I sat up. I must have hit it pretty hard. Brock and Misty stood up again and tried to help me up, but that was when I realized just how much my ankle was hurting. I let go of both their hand and flopped down to the ground in pain, letting out a moan as I did so.  
  
"Ash what's wrong?" Brock asked me concernedly.  
  
"... My ... Ankle!" I clutched onto my ankle, tears threatening to break loose. Misty knelt down next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. With a little help from Brock we skated over to the exit. They sat me down on the ground and took off my skates exposing an extremely swollen and blue ankle. I winced with the sharp pain that circled throughout my foot as Brock examined it by turning it on it's side.  
  
"Misty, quick go get some ice from the front desk, it looks like he's sprained it, and pretty badly at that." Brock said quickly, emergency ringing in his voice. Brock lifted me carefully off the ground and moved me over to a chair. Tears began to flow freely down my cheeks as he placed me carefully on the cushions. When Misty came back after about 5 minutes, the ice pack was placed softly around my ankle making me flinch sharply and giving more tears an excuse to run down my face.  
  
"You're going to need to get this checked out." I groaned. No way am I ever going to go skating again!  
  
"Not going to end up at the hospital, aren't I Mist?" I tried hard to make every word I said sound very threatening, making the girl coil back in fright. She looked rather crestfallen though. I wonder why?  
  
"Ash, I'm going to go back into the rink for a while, I need you to keep this ice pack on for another 20 minutes then take it off for 20." What's the point of having an ice pack on when we're in a building that is so cold it keeps water frozen all day and night?  
  
We watched Brock hobble back to the rink, his skates not letting him walk normally, he looked like he was having the time of his life as he glided smoothly along the ice. I glared at the many people as they went past think about how evil the shoes with blades on the bottom of them are.  
  
"Ash?" Misty whispered in a kind of apologetic fashion. I grunted in response, not having the energy or pain tolerance to be able to do much more. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you ran into that wall. And I guess I was wrong about you not ending up at the hospital. I ... guess Ice Skating just isn't your thing..."  
  
I looked up at Misty. My vision was blurry from the tears in my eyes but from what I could tell she had an upset look on her face. "It's not your fault Misty..." My voice was low and shaky. "If I hadn't been so stupid," I put a lot of emphasis on the word stupid, "I wouldn't have skated into that wall. And I guess Ice Skating isn't for me, ey?" I tried to giggle at my last remark but it was suppressed by a large amount of pain as I moved my ankle slightly.  
  
Ding-Dong!  
  
"Your attention please!" A voice rang through the air making the skaters halt and look up at the loud speakers. "In ten minutes the daily Ice Hokey match will be starting! Please assemble into two teams of eight. Today's prize is a nights accommodation in a luxury motel, the Sheraton Viridian, for the whole team!"  
  
Everyone out Ice Skating slowly began to make their way off of the rink and towards the exits. Misty looked over at my with sorry eyes. "Ash... Would you mind if I entered in the tournament? I'm really good at Ice Hokey." Why was she asking me this? It didn't bother me if she entered. "If my team won, I wouldn't stay with them if you couldn't so you wouldn't be alone tonight or anything."  
  
"Of course you can Misty... You don't need to ask me!"  
  
She smiled at me merrily and mumbled something so soft that I didn't make out what it was. As she walked off I slowly sat up and looked up at the clock, it had been twenty minutes since Brock put on the ice pack so I carefully took it off my foot. I had just got it off when I heard an all too familiar voice in my ear.  
  
"Hurt on the skates again Ash?" It was Gary. This wasn't good, he was there the day I had my hand cut open. "So you stink and Ice Skating and Pokemon training!" I glowered at the boy in front of me.  
  
"If I wasn't in so much pain at the moment I would kill you!" I was so mad at him.  
  
"Oh believe me Ashy, you wouldn't be able to do that! Your hand was all too easy to slice open!"  
  
My eyes widened in shock and my mouth dropped open. He had done that? He was the one that skated over my hand and caused me so much pain? I glared at my former best friend trying desperately to get some words out but all that happened was my mouth opened and closed.  
  
"Oh yes Ash. It was no accident that you had your hand run over. I had had it all planned out all day." He smirked at me before walking off to join the team opposing Misty and Brock.  
  
I was shaking with anger. That had happened just after Gary and I had our fight. My mum had to rush me to the emergency room, blood was everywhere by the time I had left the arena. I had a tea towel wrapped tightly around my hand for almost five hours. The hospital had been extremely busy because of a three car pile up and I was sitting in the emergency room for hours, held in my mum's arms. She had whispered so many comforting words, I was bawling my eyes out. How could one person be so cruel as to cause a seven year old that much pain on purpose?  
  
That is just one thing I will never understand about Gary.  
  
"Okay teams get ready, we are about to begin!" The announcer blurted out. I saw my friends skate towards their positions. Once everyone was in their spots another announcement was made. "Okay teams! When you hear the whistle blow, the referee will drop the puck and you will begin!"  
  
Everyone on the ice braced themselves and a man in a bright yellow suit skated to the middle of the rink. He held up the puck and brought the whistle to his mouth.  
  
"3!" Called the announcer.  
  
I looked at Misty, she had a determined face. She brought he Hokey stick to the ice and shifted her feet around a bit.  
  
"2!"  
  
Brock was next. He looked calm and collected, standing there, not really noticing anything.  
  
"1!"  
  
And there was Gary. He looked like he would kill anyone that got in his way. His whole team looked like a gang of black belts in karate.  
  
The whistle blew and the puck dropped with a clunk.  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Well there you go, chapter one is done. I used thesaurus on lots of those words, could you tell? Hee hee! I don't know when chapter two will be up but stay tuned. Oh and pleeeeeeease review! 


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